Many types of tools for cutting or chip removing machining of, in particular, workpieces of metal, are made with a plurality of replaceable cutting inserts situated in series one after the other, of the type that are manufactured from a hard and wear-resistant material, such as cemented carbide, ceramics or the like. Examples of such tools include linearly operating reaming tools, rotary milling cutters and stationary turning tools. With the purpose of attaining an efficient and quick machining, it has been a tendency to equip the basic bodies of the tools with a number of cutting inserts as large as possible per unit length. The more cutting inserts that can be mounted, for instance, along the periphery of a milling cutter, the more efficiently the milling cutter will work. The same also applies to such linearly operating tools, e.g., reamers, in which the cutting inserts are mounted in a straight line one after the other.
In previously known cutting tools, the cutting inserts are mounted individually and spaced-apart in so-called insert seats in the basic body of the tool, which is manufactured from a softer material, e.g., steel, the cutting inserts being spaced-apart by spaces, which at least partly form requisite chip channels, i.e., gaps in which the detached chips can be accommodated during continued feed of the tools. In other words, the individual chip channel is delimited by a most often smaller part surface (chip surface) included in the cutting insert, as well as a usually larger part surface included in the basic body. The requirement to form the basic body of the tool with relatively widely spaced-apart insert seats to create chip channels between the mounted cutting inserts, of course limits the options for the designer to optimize the number of cutting inserts in the tool. Another shortcoming of known cutting tools is that the hot chips come in immediate contact with not only the heat-resistant material of the cutting inserts, but also with the less heat-resistant material of the basic body.